Factors affecting the availability of Natural, Renewable and Nonrenewable Resources


Some of the main reasons that resources are destroyed, cannot be found , or utilized are because of:


Lack of Technology:

The United States is the 3rd leading oil producing country in the world. This could greatly be increased if technology that was cost and time efficient was developed so that the oil could easily be drilled from the earth. Some of the oil is in rock or places that is hard to get to.

Natural Disasters:

Hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico can destroy oil rigs which are very important to the country. This is where a lot of the oil comes from in the United States. The oil rigs are difficult to repair and it hurts the country whenever a hurricane comes through.

Logging:

Humans are destroying many of the forests that exist today so that we can use the wood for things to build, or paper. As we destroy the forests, resources are destroyed, species exterminated, and ecosystems are being ruined.
logging.jpg
Loggers Destroying Forests


Oil Spills:

Oil spills can be very dangerous. Huge tankers carrying the oil all around the world can accidentally spill the oil into the oceans. This is vary harmful to all of the organisms in the water and surrounding area. The whole food chained is disrupted as one species depends another for food.

Drought:

A drought is caused by a lack of precipitation over a long period of time. This is not always a bad thing, because a drought is a natural occurance. Some negative impacts of a drought include reduced crops and forest productivity; an increased fire hazard and decrease in water levels. This will disrupt the whole ecosystem, because the basis of the food chain, plants, will be scarce, so biomass energy in an area affected by drought will be less effective. With the decrease of water levels, the strength of rivers will decrease also, and in turn provide less energy to hydropowered dams.

Home